Ecotoxicology is currently undergoing a revolution as the result of new technological advances in molecular biology, capable of finely resolving metabolic mechanisms associated with exposure. These high-throughput analyses can detail the evolutionary and ecological implications of exposure in non-model organisms, such as the earthworm, Lumbricus rubellus. This terrestrial sentinel has been obse...

This paper focuses on the general ways in which microbes interact with metals. Some bacteria have evolved mechanisms to detoxify heavy metals, and some even use them for respiration. Microbial interactions with metals may have several implications for the environment. Microbes may play a large role in the biogeochemical cycling of toxic heavy metals also in cleaning up or remediating metal-cont...

This review focuses on recent evidence that identifies potential extracellular and cellular mechanisms that may be involved in the tolerance of ectomycorrhizal fungi to excess metals in their environment. It appears likely that mechanisms described in the nonmycorrhizal fungal species are used in the ectomycorrhizal fungi as well. These include mechanisms that reduce uptake of metals into the c...

Human activities have continuously increased the level of heavy metal ions circulating in the environment. It is important to understand the tolerance of plant species to high concentrations of heavy metals. Very little is known on the response of Eucalyptus species to Zn and Cu toxic concentrations Eucalyptus camaldulensis, E. microtheca, and E. occidentalis seeds were grown in silt and irriga...

Exposure of newborn animals to a foreign Ag may result in immunological tolerance to that specific Ag, a phenomenon called neonatal tolerance. We have previously reported that neonatal administration to Brown-Norway rats of mercury, a heavy metal toxicant, induces a dominant tolerance, specific for the chemical otherwise responsible for Th2 cell-mediated autoimmune responses in this susceptible...

Bacterial isolates from 30 farmed bullfrogs (Lithobates catesbeianus) weighing 500-600 g at Johore, Malaysia with external clinical signs of ulcer, red leg and torticollis were tested for their antibiograms and heavy metal tolerance patterns. A total of 17 bacterial species with 77 strains were successfully isolated and assigned to 21 antibiotics and 4 types of heavy metal (Hg(2+), Cr(6+), Cd(2...

Heavy metal contaminants are a serious problem worldwide to human health, animals and some plants. Phytoremediation, is a promising technology, which has gained wide acceptance in remediating the contaminants from the soil, which uses green plants known as hyperaccumulators. Biochemical mechanisms such as adsorption, transport, accumulation and translocation that are adopted by plants are of su...

Zinc (Zn) is an essential micronutrient for plants, playing catalytic or structural roles in enzymes, transcription factors, ribosomes, and membranes. In humans, Zn deficiency is the second most common mineral nutritional disorder, affecting around 30% of the world's population. People living in poverty usually have diets based on milled cereals, which contain low Zn concentrations. Biofortific...